Between Two Flooding Rivers in Lyon

Flood season in Lyon, signs of recovery, and the sound of early non-Paris French punk

For the better part of the last month, much of western and central France has been saturated. I can’t think of a single easy without some kind of rain in the last month & I guess that is also true in Lyon.

As we crossed the country from Nantes to Paris to Lyon, rivers are up, fields are holding water, low roads are closed, floodplains doing what they’ve always done, but this is higher than i’ve ever seen here.

From the Loire basin through Île-de-France and down here between the Rhône and Saône, the scale is noticeable. Wide, slow flooding across a lot of the country. A reminder that France is still very much shaped by working rivers, not controlled ones.

In Lyon, the quays are high, the current moving fast, the water heavy winter brown with large logs coming down regularly through the middle of the city. Some walkways closed, banks soaked, bits of debris caught along the edges.

What stood out just as much, though, was the bird life. More than last year in Nantes, more here along the river now. Cormorants on posts, gulls everywhere, and even one chasing a Peregrine falcon over Place Carnot. For all I’ve been writing about ecological pressure in France, there are also signs of recovery. Small, steady, but noticeable.

The Rhône river looks like it could be going 4 knots in places or more - that’s fast. It looked like a rapids around the bridges with none of the small local ferries running. The Saône seemed to be running a little less quickly.

The river below the Old Town of Lyon.

Musical quenelle

Get Baque — Starshooter (1978, Lyon)

Starshooter were early French punk/new-wave outliers from Lyon, Not Paris. In the late 1970s, the French music world was Paris-centered and most French-language music was still tied to more chanson traditions. Starshooter sounded different: lean, sarcastic, fast, and closer to British punk in spirit. Starshooter were part of the first wave of French punk groups, sometimes singing in English, but also some of the first to sing in French.

Been anywhere interesting lately? Is there flooding in your area? Know anywhere good to eat in this town? Je vous écoute.

As we took the trip from Nantes to Paris to Lyon, the scale of flooding all o ver the country is like nothing I’ve seen here yet.

Then there was this Rambo-themed delivery truck for one of the morning markets. He seemed to be selling dairy products - I would have loved to have interviewed this guy, but just a quick “bonjour” back and forth as he went about his business.

But this guy really likes Rambo.